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Accessing external data sources
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ILEMAKER PRO HELP 559
• If the connection fails, the appropriate error message for connection failure is displayed, and
<Data Source Missing> is displayed.
• If FileMaker cannot identify a unique key for an ODBC table or view, <Primary key
missing> is displayed in the relationships graph and in field objects.
Note FileMaker automatically tries to identify a unique key for an ODBC table or view. If
FileMaker cannot identify a unique key, when you Sync or add a new ODBC table, a FileMaker
dialog box appears where you can specify one or more columns to use as a unique key. If
FileMaker still cannot determine unique values for every record in the external table or view at
that time, you see <Primary key missing>. If someone working outside FileMaker software
associates a new primary key with the external table, the new primary key will be used instead
of the key specified in FileMaker.
ODBC errors
• If the name of a column in an external table is a FileMaker reserved word or a SQL keyword,
an ODBC error might result. (For example, an error might result if a column is named
“Number” or “Timestamp.”) See
About naming fields and Using a reserved word or symbol
for a field or table name for more information about FileMaker reserved words. To avoid
schema naming problems with ODBC data sources, see the documentation that came with
your data source software.
• For ODBC imports and Execute SQL script steps, if an error occurs while performing a SQL
query, the Get(LastError) function returns FileMaker error 1408. The Get(LastODBCError)
function returns detailed information about the error. If there is no information about the
error, the Get(LastError) function returns FileMaker error 1409.
• When you are working with ODBC data sources in the relationships graph, the
Get(LastError) function returns FileMaker error 1408. The Get(LastODBCError) function
returns the readable error string that is generated by the ODBC driver.
• If you are connected to an ODBC table that contains a duplicate record and you modify that
record in FileMaker, your modification only affects the first instance of the record. If you then
delete the record in FileMaker, both external records are deleted.
Find results
Find results for ODBC tables might differ from FileMaker find results on the same data. For example,
Asian text in an external table might be collated differently and give different find results than the
same text in a FileMaker table.
Querying an ODBC data source from FileMaker Pro
After configuring an ODBC client driver, you can interact with records, import records into an existing
FileMaker Pro database file, or create a new FileMaker Pro database file from an ODBC data
source (such as Oracle or Microsoft Access databases).
First, you access the data source you want to import from. Then you construct a query for the
records you want to import from the data source. Finally, if you’re importing data into an existing file,
you map fields from your data source to fields in your FileMaker
Pro database file.
Important See Connecting to data sources for information on how you can access and work with
ODBC data sources without writing SQL queries.
You can access your ODBC data source through the File menu, with the Import Records script step,
or with the Execute SQL script step.